Penn State vs ucf College Football Week-1 Preview

The Penn State Nittany Lions and the University of Central Florida Knights travel to Dublin, Ireland in what has been deemed the Croke Park Classic. This interesting international game is something of a spectacle and will certainly draw a lot of attention to both teams. Penn State is still a team in recovery, but this will certainly be a happy moment for everybody involved in the Penn State program. However, the UCF Knights are a very capable team that proved themselves to the nation last year throughout the season and in their bowl victory over Baylor. Head coach Greg O’Leary has to manage his team after the loss of their star QB Blake Bortles as well as their starting halfback. Penn State may be able to take advantage of the underclassmen that will be starting for UCF.

Keys for Penn State Nittany Lions:

Head coach James Franklin has done a decent job of putting together a very fractured Penn State squad.

Now that starting sophomore QB Christian Hackenberg has a starting season under his belt, he can really open up and perform well. Hackenberg had nearly 3,000 yards passing and 20 touchdowns last year, impressive numbers for a freshman.

Keys for UCF:

The loss of star QB Blake Bortles really puts UCF under pressure for a new QB. Luckily whoever fills that QB position will have a core of wide receivers that performed well last season. Rannell Hall, Breshad Perriman, and J.J. Wortman were the top three receivers, and they are all returning.

William Stanback will have to step in as running back with the loss of Storm Johnson. Stanback had 105 attempts for 443 yards last season.

-NO KEY INJURIES TO DATE

–Favorite/Odds: Penn State by 2.5 points

An impressive performance last year from UCF will have everyone watching this overseas game. However, with the loss of so many playmakers the Knights are coming into this game as a slight underdog. Both of these teams will be out to prove themselves. UCF will be trying to prove last year wasn’t a fluke, and Penn State is just trying to get back on the football map.